As a former attorney, I’m always interested in current cases. Two recently shocked me—for very different reasons.

The first: Ohio's Butler County Prosecutor recently sued Punxsutawney Phil for false advertisement of an early spring. Saying Phil "committed a felony against the peace and dignity of the state of Ohio;" Ohioans demanded Phil's execution. As a winter-dreader, I enjoyed this tongue-in-cheek expression of fellow frustration with the winter that never seems to end. The case made me laugh.

The second made me cry. A couple engaged a surrogate mother to carry their baby. The young woman had significant financial issues which the hefty surrogate fee would help address. When prenatal testing indicated issues in the baby, the couple offered to pay the woman $10,000 to abort. When she refused, they sued. Already financially strapped, the young woman faced both pregnancy alone and the expense of a lawsuit.

How could this happen?

As John Stonestreet says, “We become what we worship. Our culture worships stuff. So, people have become stuff.” Stuff you can return if not satisfied. Stuff you can reject for defects. Stuff you can throw away. People are not supposed to be equivalent to stuff—yet all too often people are treated as if they are. For this couple, their baby  was an item to dispose of because she didn't meet expectations. So, was the surrogate mother.

We can hope this experience persuades the couple never to try to have children again. Nature made the right call when it denied them a baby of their own. But, there are millions more in our culture who think of children as possessions--items geared for the couple's happiness and fulfillment. Should children fail in this--children should be disposed of. 

Our methods of disposal vary. This couple chose execution of their child. While many would be shocked at even the mention of executing Punxsutawney Phil; they barely blink at this notion. Others simply send their child away--to school, to after school programs, to summer camp. Now please hear me. I know many parents use these services as opportunities to grow their children and readily engage with these institutions to make this happen. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the parents who use these as a means of getting their children out of their hair because the children don't satisfy.

As parents we have a sacred trust—to treat our children as gifts from God, people made in His image and for His purposes—not ours. This means we focus our time, energy, and thoughts on engaging with our children to help them become the images of God they were made to be. At times we engage others to help us in this process; but we, the parents, remain primarily responsible--because our children are gifts and priorities, not disposable stuff. More, we bear the burden of convincing those around us of this truth. If we do this well, perhaps we will have only suits against poor rodents for miscalculation on the weather and can simply laugh.